- Email: [email protected]
The Effects of Aerobic Training on Children's Creativity, Self-Perception, and Aerobic Power
SPORT PSYCHIATRY
1056-4993/98 $8.00 + .00
THE EFFECTS OF AEROBIC TRAINING ON CHILDREN'S CREATIVITY, SELF-PERCEPTION, AND AEROBIC POWER Lisa R. Herman-Tofler, MS, and Bruce W. Tuckman, PhD
With the current Federal and state budgetary constraints, schools are finding it ever more difficult to maintain a wide variety of electives for children. In many schools unstructured play is being called physical education class. 52 Schools may need to find ways of relating physical education to children's overall curriculum. One consistent finding is that participation in aerobic activity is associated with increased creativity.13. 23. 25. 31. 33. 69. 70 Creativity has been associated with an increased capacity for new ideas. It is also associated with increased strategies for problem solving.JO This, therefore, makes a compelling argument for the inclusion of aerobic activity in the school day. What kind of physical education is best for the psychological as well as phYSical well-being of children? The traditional physical education setting stresses competitive sports and has minimal aerobic conditioning components. Also, the competitive atmosphere may not be conductive and may be deleterious to a child's sense of positive physical self-concept. Marsh and Peart"3 found that a cooperative exercise program increased children's phYSical self-concept more than a competitive one. Also, guidelines for elementary physical education encourage a noncompetitive atmosphere that provides experiences that teach children to be assertively responsible for their own fitness. The guidelines also discuss the importance of motivating children during exercise. 25 Aerobics, for example, is conducted in a noncompetitive environment in which participants are encouraged verbally to exercise. Participants in aerobics are ultimately responsible for their own improvements. Following the completion of the National Children and Youth Fitness Study 11,48,54 as well as various other prominent studies in the late 1980s, educators
From the Department of Educational Research, College of Education, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 4 • OCTOBER 1998
773
1056-4993/98 $8.00 + .00
THE EFFECTS OF AEROBIC TRAINING ON CHILDREN'S CREATIVITY, SELF-PERCEPTION, AND AEROBIC POWER Lisa R. Herman-Tofler, MS, and Bruce W. Tuckman, PhD
With the current Federal and state budgetary constraints, schools are finding it ever more difficult to maintain a wide variety of electives for children. In many schools unstructured play is being called physical education class. 52 Schools may need to find ways of relating physical education to children's overall curriculum. One consistent finding is that participation in aerobic activity is associated with increased creativity.13. 23. 25. 31. 33. 69. 70 Creativity has been associated with an increased capacity for new ideas. It is also associated with increased strategies for problem solving.JO This, therefore, makes a compelling argument for the inclusion of aerobic activity in the school day. What kind of physical education is best for the psychological as well as phYSical well-being of children? The traditional physical education setting stresses competitive sports and has minimal aerobic conditioning components. Also, the competitive atmosphere may not be conductive and may be deleterious to a child's sense of positive physical self-concept. Marsh and Peart"3 found that a cooperative exercise program increased children's phYSical self-concept more than a competitive one. Also, guidelines for elementary physical education encourage a noncompetitive atmosphere that provides experiences that teach children to be assertively responsible for their own fitness. The guidelines also discuss the importance of motivating children during exercise. 25 Aerobics, for example, is conducted in a noncompetitive environment in which participants are encouraged verbally to exercise. Participants in aerobics are ultimately responsible for their own improvements. Following the completion of the National Children and Youth Fitness Study 11,48,54 as well as various other prominent studies in the late 1980s, educators
From the Department of Educational Research, College of Education, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 4 • OCTOBER 1998
773